


Solstice

by AfricanAnansi



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Maybe time stuff maybe not?, Romance, Selfindulgent nonsense, Some angst, eventually?!, i dunno, stuff is gunna happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-01 14:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5210003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AfricanAnansi/pseuds/AfricanAnansi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The barrier is gone and our monsters have begun the process of adapting to the surface world where they meet a pair of twins who are, maybe, not as human as they claim to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Solstice

**Author's Note:**

> Okay! A few things. 
> 
> 1\. So I've noticed the reader inserts appear to be the thing to do in this fandom. I do not write those, sorry breh. 
> 
> 2\. This, as my tags stated, is a self indulgent shitty suedo-crossover between undertale and an original idea of mine that I've been slowly working on for some time. So... sorry to anyone who doesn't want to trudge through that nonsense. 
> 
> 3\. There will be no skelefucking this day! I don't pron. Sorry times three. 
> 
> 4\. I'm usually much better about titles but I couldn't think of one for this stupid thing so I just named it after my girl... This plagues me. 
> 
> If you can live with all of these things then by all mean read this weird garbage I wrote.

Her whole body ached, the dull throbbing of strained muscles punctuated by the occasional sharp pain of a spasm here and there. She didn't know how long she'd been hanging there. Strapped into this terrible contraption that was all needles and blades. Like some kind of torture device of a mad doctor. 

They'd left her alone after strapping her in. Muttering among themselves in a language she didn't understand. She was scared. Terrified. Acutely aware of the red light the bathed the room and the screams that drifted in from somewhere beyond the facility walls. 

"Which one of these should I take out first?" 

He was in front of her. She didn't know when he'd gotten there. Thin hooked blade in his hand, tapping it thoughtfully against her chest as he contemplated the glowing stone beneath her skin before hooking her flesh and dragging down to her stomach. 

\- 

Solstice shot up in her bed gasping, hands groping at her chest and looking frantically around her room. It took her a minute or two, to realize she was safe. In her room. On Earth. It took yet another minute more to get her breathing under control. She was eventually able to settle back into her bed. Though she probably wasn't going back to sleep any time soon. 

It had been a little over two years now since it happened. Since she'd been pulled from that cave. From the hellscape that was a poacher's den and she and her brother had been relocated to Earth until it was safe to return to their homeworld. If it ever was. 

She stood and stepped quietly over to her mirror, an irrational part of her needing to be reassured that her stones were still there, though she knew she would dead if they weren't. Solstice looked much like any other member of her species. A deep black, humanoid specter, outlined by a thin brilliant golden line. Her eyes were two bright golden lights shining from the blackness of her body, and little black outlined bubbles drifted off of her in a way that was reminiscent of the swirling blobs in a lava lamp and there, much to her relief, in her head above her eyes, in her chest, and nestled in the curve of her pelvis behind her skin were the three, large, glowing stones that signified the life force of her people. 

Her species was, for all intents and purposes, an anomaly. No one was entirely sure why every once in a while one would crawl out from under one specific long dead volcano. No one knew for certain what they were. They're appearance caused many to believe that they were some kind of energy construct. The superstitious people of their homeworld believed them to be reanimated souls of the dead. But those lucky few who had gotten close enough to establish physical contact with one of her kind would find that they didn't feel like constructs or anything as insubstantial as energy or magic but instead felt much like any other creature of flesh and blood. 

Unfortunately for her species they also happened to contain three of the most valuable items that could possibly be traded through whatever illegal back channels existed throughout the multiverse and there were many out there who would do anything to get their hands on them. Hence her and her Brother's current residence on a World they were not born to. 

Solstice made her way out into the living room of the nicely sized 2 bedroom apartment she shared with her brother. There was no use trying to sleep anymore. It was still very dark out and she was sure it would be for a while yet, but she never did have any luck going back to sleep after one of those nightmares. Instead she sat down on the couch and picked up the TV remote. 

No sooner had the Tv clicked on did she hear the door of her brothers room open. "Nightmare?" He asked. Moving around the back of the couch to sit down 

"Yeah..." She mutters, staring down at her lap. 

"The Den?" 

"Yeah..." 

Nox sighed. The nightmares had not been an uncommon occurrence since she was pulled from the den and truthfully this was one of the better ones. Others times she'd woken terrified and prepared to fight for her life. In some of the first weeks in the apartment she's blasted a small hole through the wall of her room. It had been a while since she'd caused any real property damage but Nox even found those preferable to the nights she woke up in tears and all he could do was sit helplessly by her side and try to comfort her while she cried herself sick before eventually falling to exhausted. 

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she leaned against his. They spent the rest of the night letting the Netflix recommendations choose the background noise they would eventually fall asleep to.


	2. Monsters and children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Solstice takes a break from the apartment and has a run in at the bookstore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it! In a timely manner even! We'll see how long that lasts.

After her rather rough night Solstice found it hard to sit around the apartment. Memories of her... Unfortunate situation played over and over in her head and after a few hours she decided what she really need was a distraction. 

"I'm going out." She said standing by the door, making it clear the she could not be argued out of leaving the apartment. 

Nox looked up from his picture. He sat, back rested against the arm of their couch, knees up, with a large drawing board propped against them, a large sheet of Canson paper taped carefully to it. He watched her for a moment. One brow raised, pastel pencil stopped just centimeters from the paper. 

"Like that?" He asked, motioning in her general direction. 

Solstice sighed. "I would like to..." She muttered. 

Nox sighed. "You know why we can't." 

Her shoulders dropped, she closed her eyes a took a deep breath. 

The effect was instant. Where once stood the thick inky black shape was now a perfectly normal human girl. Same shape and size barely 5'3 with slightly thicker thighs, midsection, and arms then most of the perfectly normal human girls that decorated many of this worlds entertainment programming, Something they had to be assured was actually normal and that the woman on TV did not reflect that average population. Tanned skin, black hair that reached just past her shoulders, and bright eyes 

Of course it was only superficial. It took a little concentration so change their color and keep their physical form more stable than usual but as long as she was careful no one would ever suspect that she didn't actually look that way. The only thing they couldn't fabricate was clothing, something the two still struggled with even after two years. To the point that they had bought a small white board to hang on the front door that only said. "Make sure pants." To remind them that clothing was not optional on this world. 

"Happy?" She's asked. Holding up her arms for inspection. 

"No." He said, quietly, but was apparently satisfied enough to go back to work on his pastel. "But close enough." 

She sighed. "Alright. I'm going now." 

"Be careful." 

\-- 

Solstice hadn't exactly started with a plan beyond 'get out of the house'. So she just walked down to the small outdoor shopping center about 2 blocks from their complex and kept going until she found herself in a bookstore. She pulled a few comics and art magazines off the shelves. Since she still had a hard time with the written word these things were the easiest for her to read. Plus she liked looking at the pictures. Her species had always been strongly attracted to color. 

The bookstore wasn't nearly as quiet as usual. On the average day it was quite enough to hear a pin drop. But today there was a small commotion going on down the aisles by the young readers section just outside of the enclosed play area that was the children's book section. 

Solstice looked up from her issue of Juxtapose to see what was going on. They weren't being very loud, In fact it seemed like they were making a considerable effort to be quiet and doing a poor job of it while whispering loudly among themselves. 

She was actually rather surprised to see monsters in the bookstore. She knew that their ban, or whatever, had been lifted a few months ago and they where now allows to freely roam around like anyone else, though she still wasn't quite sure why they hadn't been to begin with. After two years of hiding on this planet she was still rather shaky on its history and she hadn't wanted to ask for fear of being a obvious outsider. Her case-worker and the other immigrants weren't much help either as none of them had bothered very much with earth history beyond the most recent. 

There were three monsters, two of them were deep in hushed discussion. Bickering really if she was reading the body language right. The third, much shorter than the others, watched from about a foot or two back. One of them, a tall skeleton it looked like, was holding an armful of young readers books. While the other, a more animal like monster with a long muzzle and two little horns on their head, pointed forcefully at the shelf. Presumable telling the skeleton to put them back. Which her partner seemed obstinately against. The third party leaned back against a book shelf and looked between the two, offering no solutions or compromises. She couldn't make him out since his back was to her and his big fluffy Hoodie blocked any hope of seeing him anyway. 

Solstice found herself smiling. She always liked people watching. Something about seeing other people interact with each other. Especially families. These three seemed pretty close despite, or maybe because of, the bickering. Deciding she wanted to get a bit closer, Solstice got up and used the nearby home making section to get closer to them. 

She ducked between the shelves and pulled a book on pie recipes off the shelves as cover. 

"These books are not appropriate for a child! They are much to violent! Put them back and we'll find something much nicer for them to read." The goat was saying, but the Skeleton seemed to have other ideas. 

It shook it's head and stubbornly held its armful of books. "The human at the desk said theses book are classic literature for young humans! Clearly it is important that our young human become familiar with these tales if they are to fit in with the other human children!" 

As a two bickered a small child, maybe around 9 years of age, approached the third monster, who she could now make out as another skeleton. Solstice guessed this must be the ' young human' they were talking about. 

"hey, kiddo." He said lazily. 

The child held up a sheet of paper which the monster took and gave a cursory scan. "these the books you gotta bone up on for class?" The child nodded. 

A rather unattractive snort escaped Solstice at the skeletons choice of words. Sure she'd been heard she quickly buried her face in her book, pretending she'd been far too engrossed in this recipe for strawberry lemonade pie to be creepily listening to their private conversation. 

Over the next few moments the child and shorter monster broke off from the bickering pair to find the books the kid would need for class from the list supposedly sent by the school to make sure the children were prepared on the first day and Solstice found herself actually flipping through the pages her cover book. Baking was, after all, kind of a hobby of hers and some of these pies actually sounded like they'd be fun to make. She began to consider purchasing the book before she left the store. 

A gasp beside her pulled her from the pictures of artistically displayed pies. A woman had appeared besides her sometime within the minutes she was engrossed in her book and she looked absolutely appalled. 

Solstice glanced up. Had something happened to the monster family? 

The sight the greeted her was anything but appalling. The child floated happily, about a foot or two in the air, giggling as they reached for a book on the top shelf that they could now reach. The shorter skeleton stood a little ways back, one arm held out toward the child, a slight blue glow emanating from their fingertips. That must be the famous monster magic she'd heard so much about since they'd crawled out from under the earth to join the rest of society above ground. 

A young child about, the same age as the one now being gently lowered to the ground as their caretaker lazily looked over the list of titles for their next target, looked on in an excited awe. He clearly did not find the scene as horrifying as his mother. 

"This is why monsters shouldn't be allowed near children." The woman said, contempt plain in her voice. 

"You shouldn't say that kind of stuff in front of your kid." The words left her before she could stop them and now the woman had turned the hateful look to her. Looks like she was in it. No backing out now. 

"It's none of your business what I say around my child." The woman sneered. True. 

"That stuff stays with then forever. If you keep talking like that around him, he's gunna grow up to be bigoted and hateful... And this world really doesn't need more of that." Stop talking. "Those monsters aren't doing anything wrong. They just want to go to the bookstore with their family. Just like everyone else." She spoke quietly, hoping no one but the woman would hear her. "Just like you." Through her whole speech she never once looked up from the cinnamon apple pie on the glossy page in front of her. She didn't want to. She didn't want to look at the woman or the monsters and see the judgmental stares. Who was she to be saying all this? To preach acceptance when she was the one hiding. 

The woman huffed and grabbed her child's hand. "Come on, Joseph, we're leaving." The boy groaned and followed his mother out of the aisle. 

Great. Solstice thought putting the book back on the shelf. She didn't feel much like buying it anymore. She really needed to stop doing things like that. The while point of relocation was to lay low and not bring attention to themselves. Spouting off like that was not the way to avoid attention. Nox would be furious if he'd seen what she just did. 

Ducking her head she hurried back to her table to return the magazine and comics to their rightful places. It was a quiet but insistent whining that made her finally glance back at the mixed monster family. 

The tall skeleton was grudgingly returning the books to their shelves under the stern gaze of the goat woman while the child tugged on his companions sleeve, trying hard to get his attention. It's was the companion that made her pause. He was staring, openly, right at her. Not even giving her the courtesy of looking away when their eyes met. In fact, the large grin he sported seemed to grow bigger and Solstice felt a chill crawl up her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger?! Not really it's not the exciting. It just felt right to end the chapter here. Like if you were watching a show this a where it would cut to commercial. More monster fam next time!


	3. Part of His Greatness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heart to heart in a coffee shop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am bad at pun. This was a horrible decision.

They stood there for maybe a moment too long, just watching each other, before she finally managed to pull herself away from those little pinpricks of light that served as his eyes. Solstice hurried herself out of the store, and walked blindly for several doors before she finally slowed and allowed her thoughts to catch up with her.

What was she doing? Sure she hadn't been very interested in staying in the bookstore after her little altercation with that hateful woman but did she really have to run away like that? She was sure after the way he'd looked at her that the skeleton had heard, and while she had tried to keep that very thing from happening, there was no reason for it to upset her that much. Maybe Nox was finally starting to get to her with all of his fear talk and trust issues. No. That wasn't it. While she understood his concerns and knew he was just trying to look out for them, she thought they were silly considering where they were. Worlds away from any beings that would know what they were let alone have any motivation to capture them for profit.

As much as she didn't want to admit it. That monster had unnerved her. With those little lights shining from somewhere inside his skull and the way he'd stared at her. Who know how long he's watched her before she's noticed him. Long enough for the kid he was with to realize they no longer had his attention.

Solstice realized now that the way she'd acted may have seemed weird, maybe even rude, after defending them the way she did. If he heard her she probably looked like a giant hypocrite. Telling off someone for saying close minded things about monsters and then running off when one made eye contact with her.

She finally stopped in front of a small place she found herself at often enough. When she didn't feel like going home but didn't have anything else to do with her time. A small coffee shop that also has small pastries and ice cream.

Minutes later she ordered herself a vanilla chai shake with strawberry ice cream and extra whip cream and was sitting quietly at a table near the counter using her straw to mix in the whipped cream. After a few minutes of idly sipping her shake and fidgeting with her napkin a tap on the window of the quiet café drew her attention once again.

The child with the monster family was tapping excitedly on the window, looking up at the two taller monsters, who were smiling down at them. Her gaze slid over and her breath hitched in her chest. She had once again locked eyes with the shorter of the skeletons, he was still grinning wide. For a moment she was filled with the same irrational panic that had overtaken her when she left the bookstore. Had they followed her? Though she quickly realized how insane that was. Of course they didn't. Why would they. Even if more than this unnerving skeleton had heard what she'd said, it sure seemed an awful lot of work to figure out where she'd gone and track her down to... what? What would they even do once they'd caught up to her? No, it seemed the kid just wanted ice cream.

She forced herself to look away from the monster and focus on her shake as the family bustled happily into the small shop. She hazarded a glance up at them and found them all focused either intently on the child or the selection of treats the shop had to offer. Including the hoodied skeleton. He was lazily surveying the ice creams, not even paying the slightest attention to her.

At that point she realized she had, maybe, she was overreacting. It's entirely possible he wasn't staring at her at all. She was sitting in front of the counter after all. She passively listened as they ordered, not taking in anything they said, just taking in the ambient noise they created with their presence. Two louder voices, one excited about the prospect of ice cream and the other more one boisterous and laughing, one soothing and matronly, and the occasional interjection of something slow and deep. Without looking up she could easily picture which voice belonged to who as she slipped back into the calm she had before they'd entered.

Suddenly the chair across from her scrape the wood floor and the table shook slightly as someone sat down.

"hey." Slow and deep.

She tensed slightly but tried not to show it as she looked up from her napkin. Just as she'd feared, her look of confused apprehension was met with a lazy grin under deep sockets. "Uhm... Hi." She said, looking down at her shake before forcing her eyes back up, trying not to seem as uneasy as she was about maintaining eye contact with him.

He tilted his head. It felt like he was appraising her. Watching her. Looking for something. She wasn't sure what. She wished he would just say what he wanted and let her get on with her day. The longer he watched her the more self conscious she became and the more she wanted him to leave, or at least look somewhere else. Yet another far too long moment passed between them before he spoke again. He places the foam cup, she hadn't noticed he was holding until now, down on the table and extended his boney hand to her. "i'm sans." His eyes remained locked intently on her, still searching.

"Oh." At first she simply stared at his hand. Admittedly she wasn't very well versed in human anatomy but just from superficial inspection it seemed similar enough to her own and she was pretty sure his was not a direct replica. His hands were clearly hard white, bleached bone, but much too thick. Rather then the many tiny segments she'd seen in pictures his palms where several thick, connected, slabs of bone with skeletal fingers attached where one would expect them to be. It made sense, she supposed, that he wasn't actually a human skeleton, being an independent creature in his own right that had nothing to do with the actual anatomy of a human aside from superficial appearance. She wondered if the rest of him matched up or if he was actually more a parody of a skeleton like his hands suggested. "Oh! Uh. Solstice." She answered, accepting his gesture. His hand wasn't exactly warm but he didn't feel as cold and lifeless as she would have expected from something that looked like a member of the undead.

He settled back in his chair, apparently satisfied. His whole body seemed to relax into the seat and those little pinpricks in his sockets disappeared partially behind heavy lids. As he relaxed so did she. This new posture, she found, was much less intimidating, and had her much less one edge then his previous intense wide eyed stare. Even his grin was less upsetting for her now, though she was sure that hadn't changed.

"nice name." He chuckled. She smiled a little. It wasn't her real name of course. But it was the closest translation they could find so it's the one she used. Most people reacted that way. No one actually expected 'Solstice' to be the answer to 'what's your name' sometime people even though she was joking. "real sunny."

She blinked at him for a moment while she processed what he'd just said. At first it didn't make much sense to her but when the pun finally registered she smiled and gave a small laughed, feeling much more at ease with his presence now then she did seconds ago. Now that he's proven to be friendlier then her mental raving would suggest and wasn't staring at her with those wide, but empty eyes.

"here." He reached under the table and she heard the rustling of a plastic bag before a book dropped in front of her.

It was the book of recipes she'd been looking at in the store. "Oh.. Uhm... I don't-"

He raised a boney brow, or at least it felt like he did but she wasn't sure if his face had actually changed. "what? you don't want it? you seemed pretty into it." She couldn't tell if he sounded disappointed or not.

He had been watching her.

"No!" She said, maybe a little louder then she meant to. "I mean, it's not that. I just don't understand why you're giving it to me..."

He made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a chuckle before sitting up a bit more to lean forward on his elbows. "we really appreciate what you said back there. we haven't had a lot of humans stand up for us since we got here."

Right. Human. "Oh... It was nothing, really." She said, looking back down at her shake. Would they appreciate it so much if they knew she wasn't human? That she was just pretending to be one so she wouldn't get the very attention they didn't have a choice but to subject themselves to?

"NONSENSE!" The loud voice startled her. She jumped and gave a small yelp before searching out the source of the yelling. If she hadn't been so startled by the shout she would not have been surprised to see the much taller skeleton standing right next to her, holding an ice cream cone high and proud.

Solstice blinked and briefly wondered how he planned to eat that ice cream before watching Sans take a small sip of his smoothie and decided it wasn't important.

"IT TAKES GREAT NOBILITY AND COURAGE TO STAND UP FOR THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS LIKE YOU DID TODAY!"

She shook her head. The sentiment was nice but the truth was the he had no idea what he was talking about. "I..." She gave a small hollow laugh. "It wasn't the brave coming from me." No. She, unfortunately, was the coward in this situation whether she'd spoken up or not. They were the brave ones. Walking around in their own skins, or lack there-of, knowing that it may not be appreciated by others on the street.

This comment seemed to give both of the skeletons pause. They exchanged a glance above her head but she couldn't be bothered to worry about it.

"Hi!" A small voice by her knee pulled her away from the awkward exchange. The child was looking up at her with a waffle bowl full of ice cream and sprinkles.

"Hi." She returned, smiling.

"I'm Frisk!"

"Hi, Frisk."

"Thank you for defending our family."

"Oh." Had they all heard it? She was trying so hard to be quiet. Maybe monsters had better hearing or something. Except the kid isn't a monster are they? Maybe she's just a loudmouth. "Well, you're welcome." She didn't have the heart to contradict such and innocent face.

"We'd wanted to thank you before you left." The fourth and, Solstice assumed, the only female of the group was the last to approach her table. She too, had a foam smoothie cup in her hand. "But you ran out so quickly." The look on her face was a sympathetic one. She must think the woman had been the reason for Solstice's hasty retreat. She couldn't tell her that her skeleton friends had actually startled her so badly she ran away.

"Yeah..." Solstice sighed, awkwardly.

"In fact!" The woman chirped. "It's lucky we came this way." She cast a glance to Sans. It must have been his idea. Maybe they hadn't been following her, but he had been. "I had been thinking it would, certainly, be nice to have more human friends here on the surface with how few seem happy to have us here." Solstice sympathized but wished they would stop saying Human. "And hoped that you might join us for dinner. To thank you properly. It really does mean a lot, what you said."

The invitation caught her off guard. Sure she'd done a relatively nice thing for them but she's just met them minutes ago and they were already willing to invite her into their home? She only knew two of their names! But she had to admit that it did sound tempting. The whole two years she and her brother had been on the planet they'd only been to out to dinner with others 3 times. Once at another immigrants house and twice with the Hunters, the team that had pulled her from the Poachers Den. But Nox... he wouldn't like that idea at all.

"I would love too..." The look on all their faces made her wish she hadn't started that way. The goat woman looked to pleased, the child and the taller skeleton were nearly vibrating with excitement. Even the smaller skeleton almost looked hopeful but, of all of them, he was the hardest to read. She almost simply left it at that and left with them right then and there. It was heartbreaking how sweet they were. "But I... don't think I can." Instantly all their faces fall and she could have kicked herself right the stones.

"why not?" It was the short one who asked what they were all clearly thinking but too polite to ask and she hated him for it. Now she needed an excuse that wasn't 'my brother and I are recluses because people have tried to kill and sell us on the black market.'

"Well... Ah." She stammered and they all watched her expectantly. Sans' eyes were wide again, though more curious than the intense gaze they'd held earlier. Thoughts of what they must think of her began to creep back up. A hypocrite who would stand up for monsters in the middle of a bookstore but wouldn't have dinner with them. "My brother! Is actually making dinner tonight and he would be real disappointed if I didn't show up." The truth was that Nox made dinner every night because between the two of them he was the chef. Solstice just made cakes from time to time, but they didn't have to know any better.

"EVEN BETTER!" The loud one explained. "THE MORE THE MERRIER!"

Oooohhh. No no no. Nox could not be invited under any circumstances. "He's uh... He's not very social." That wasn't a lie, exactly.

"Oh. That's a shame." The goat woman didn't seem hurt, so that was good. Just disappointed, which hurt Solstice. These monsters were so kind and she's just ripped their hearts out.

"I-I... Would love to take a rain check though!" She said suddenly. Instantly she regretted it but she couldn't stand to see those three looking so rejected and it seemed to cheer them a little. "Maybe I can do it another day?" She hated making promises she couldn't keep. There was no way Nox would let that happen without a fight.

"That would be wonderful." The monster woman said, smiling softly. "Oh but we should get Frisk home." She added looking to her companions. "They already have an assignment for the first day of school."

"That's rough, buddy." Solstice gave him a sympathetic look. She'd never had to do school. It wasn't a thing on her homeworld. But she had picked up that kids aren't exactly happy attending. "I should get going too. My brother is probably wondering about me."

"cool. we can walk you back." Sans said, suddenly standing.

"GREAT IDEA, BROTHER!" The other skeleton cheered. "I LADY SHOULDN'T BE WALKING ALONE AT THIS HOUR!" It couldn't be later than early afternoon.

"Oh! No! That's okay. I don't live far." What surprised her wasn't the offer but that he didn't seem to be asking. He was just telling her what was going to happen.

"well then it's not a problem." Sans countered with a wink. Despite his tone she felt like he was offering a challenge rather than a charity. "we'll be right behind you, tori."

"Be careful! We'll see you at the bonestead!" The two shared a laugh at the awful joke while the other groaned loudly and with and a quick exchange of names with Solstice, Toriel gathered her purse and Frisk and the five of them walked out of the café before splitting off. Two towards the residential areas a few streets behind the shopping center and 3 towards the apartments visible just beyond the first row of building.

The walk as short but didn't stay awkward for long. She learned that the tall skeletons name was Papyrus. It was hard to miss when he kept yelling it. He was enthusiastic, confident, and very kind. Sans was very different. He was quiet. Making small comments here and there to affirm whatever his brother had to say. He made jokes. Lots of jokes. Puns mostly, that seemed to drive Papyrus up a wall but Solstice liked them. They put her at ease. If he was comfortable enough to joke with her then maybe he didn't think she was a terrible hypocrite. Maybe she was just projecting because she thought _she_ was a terrible hypocrite.

They were both nice enough and she found their company refreshing. She loved her brother dearly but he was the only person she'd had a meaningful conversation with in the past two years and the change was welcome.

She stopped them at the front door of her apartment. "Well here I am." She wanted to stay with them a little longer, here Papyrus talk about the underground and laugh at more of Sans' jokes, but she didn't want to have to explain their presence to Nox.

"WOWIE!" Papyrus exclaimed, making her laugh. That was the first time she's heard someone say that with any sincerity. "THIS IS YOUR HOUSE?!"

Solstice put her hand over her mouth to hide her laughter. "No! No. It's an apartment building. It's like a lot of small houses all stacked together. I live on the third floor. You can't see my window cause it's on the other side."

"THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SEE YOU TO YOUR DOOR!"

Solstice panicked. She looked down at his brother in the hopes that he might be satisfied enough with just getting her to the building. Her hopes were dashed when all he did after meeting her gaze, was nod towards the door. "c'mon."

"It's alright." She insisted. "I'm fine from here."

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus called, before sweeping her along by the shoulders and herding her towards the door.

His brother just chuckled and glanced up at her. "it's easier to just go with it. Papyrus has kind of a thick skull. An idea gets in there and there's no getting it out."

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Papyrus agrees proudly, throwing open the door. "MY SKULL IS IMPENETRABLE. IT IS PART OF MY GREATNESS!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have anything to say to ya'll. Thanks for reading this far! Hope you liked it~


	4. What Did You Do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nox has a bit of a temper...

'Despite her protests the brothers insisted on taking her up to her door. Papyrus out of pure chivalry, and Sans... She honestly couldn't tell if he was being nice. Or if he was testing her. For what she wasn't sure. To see how hard she would fight? Or maybe he was looking for a sign that her 'pro-mosters' façade from the bookstore would slip and she would reveal herself fully as the hypocrite she suspected that he suspected she was. Maybe, instead of any of those weird things, he was just a guarded person, like her brother, and he just wasn't sure about her yet.

In the elevator Papyrus asked about her brother. "Do you see him often?" His was quieter now then he had been. Maybe the small space of the elevator made him feel like he couldn't be loud. "Is that why this dinner is so special?! Are you finally reuniting being far away from each other for so long?" His eyes were shining and she suspected that he may be playing out some overly romanticized scene in his head.

"No." She laughed. "We live together. But we don't get to see each other much." Lie. "Differing schedules." Lie. "So when we do have time we like to spend it together." Not completely untrue. They were very close.

"May we meet your brother?" _You've barely met me!_

"I don't think that's a good idea..." That got Sans's attention. He shot her a sideways look. Questioning, watching... testing her. "Like I said. He's not very social."

Sans' eyes returned to the front of the elevator. "He's not dangerous is he?"

"No!" Solstice cried as the door opened with a soft ding. "No, of course not." She couldn't believe she managed to paint her brother as someone who would hurt anyone. Sure he could have a bit of a temper and was kind of grumpy most of the time but he didn't have any prejudice towards monsters specifically and he would never hurt anyone who didn't try to hurt them first. "He's just... not very good with others. He needs... time. You can't just spring stuff on him, y'know?"

Sans made an understanding sound. "I get it, we know someone like that."

"Well!" She said for the second time. Stopping in front of a door with a gold C24 nailed to it. "This is it. This is my apartment. Thank you bones very much for making sure I got here safely."

Sans gave a light snicker while Papyrus groaned. "WELL IF YOU'RE GOING TO START DOING IT AS WELL IT IS TIME I TAKE MY LEAVE OF YOU BOTH."

"aw bro!" Sans called after his brother, who had turned on his heals and was heading down the hallway. "I thought it was humerous." A groan sounded down the hallway and they both laughed. Before Sans turned back to her, suddenly more serious. "you're really gunna come back for dinner sometime?"

She hesitated but managed to stammer out a quick "Y-yeah!" And too fast head nod.

"you know you shouldn't make promises you can't keep." He said, his voice low. A warning. It sent a chill up her spine. "My bro and tori, they're both real excited about making another friend and I don't wanna see them disappointed."

"I...I will..." She stammered. The monster was several inches shorter than her and she was sure she could put him through a wall if she wanted, but somehow he made her feel so small. "No bones about it." She added, a show a solidarity.

He held her gaze for a moment before giving a soft laugh and the atmosphere seemed to lighten again. "you're cute." She felt a warmth creep to her face and she hoped it was red rather than her natural glowing gold, and she looked down at the ground to hide her smile "and you better." He pointed a finger at her as he turned lazily. "i know where you live." His tone was joking as it drifted back towards her down the hall. Not the severe warning it had been before and she actually smiled at it despite herself. She really did want to see them again.

"I'm back..." She called quietly into the apartment. Nox had not moved since she left, apparently. Still drawing on the couch.

"Who was that?" He asked quietly, though he was clearly working to control his voice.

"Sans and Papyrus... I met them at the bookstore."

"And you brought them here?" He glanced up from the picture he was working on. His control was slipping. He was mad. She knew he was mad and he was trying to not show it.

"I'm sorry! I tried not to but they wanted to walk me home!"

His eyes narrowed and he glanced the direction he's heard their voices coming from as If he would see them there. "Why?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Because their nice?"

Nox sighed and continued scratching away at the paper. "People aren't just nice, Sol."

At that point she dropped her disguise and stepped away from the door towards the kitchen. "Well good thing they weren't human." She said flippantly. "Their monsters."

"It doesn't matter what they are, Sol. We still have to be careful."

Before she could answer him there was a knock at the door. The room went silent as they locked eyes and seemed to hold their breath as they waited.

Another knock.

"hey, kid?"

Nox immediately moved to get up but Solstice shot past him back to the door, pulled up her disguise, yanked open the door, stepped through, and slammed it shut behind her. Nox was not going to like that at all but she knew if he'd gotten there first any chance that she might actually see the skeletons or Toriel again, no matter how slim they were, would be gone.

"Hey!" She said, a little too cheerfully.

Sans took a step back, surprised by her outburst. "uh. hey."

"I thought-uh. I thought you left."

"yeah I was. but then I realized we never got your number." He smirked, pulling an old flip phone out of his pocket and waving it at her. "you know, to discuss how we're gunna cash that rain check?"

"Oh!" Part of her was relieved that he had come back for it. She would have felt horrible after making that promise and later finding that she had no way of keeping it even if she thought she could. Another part of her was annoyed that she would no longer have an excuse not to have to deal with it at all and it wouldn't have been her fault. "Duh! Sorry." She held out her hand for his phone but he wasn't looking at her anymore. His eyes were glued to the crack under of the door to her apartment. Her brother's shadow was moving underneath as he paced behind the door. He was not happy. And after she had tried to sell him as a harmless introvert to the skeletons.

"yeah." He said, finally looking back up and handed her the phone. "gotta make sure you keep that promise." He gave her a wink and leaned back while she punched in her number. She'd never handled one of these phones before, being immediately equipped with new technology upon relocation, but she managed to figure it out. "your brother in there?" He asked watching the door again.

"Yeah." She answered. His tone gave it away. He didn't believe her anymore. That Nox wasn't dangerous. Not with him pacing around behind the door like tiger in a cage. "There you go!" She smiled, handing him back his phone.

Sans looked up at her with a raised brow and began typing on his phone. A moment later hers went off in her back pocket, The "!" Sound from Metal Gear Solid, and she grinned. "What, you don't believe me?"

Sans shrugged, smirk firmly in place. "nah. Just faster than you givin' me your phone."

"Fair enough." She agreed, though she wasn't sure she believed him.

He gave her one last smirk before turning. "i'll collect on this later." He called behind him holding up his phone.

"I'm banking on it!" she called after him and grinned at the bark of laughter that drifted back. She knew it wasn't a good idea. That giving out her number and making friends with monster, the current 'scourge of the human race' wasn't conducive to the low profile they were supposed to be keeping, but... really wasn't two years long enough?

Solstice turned back to her door and took a deep breath and prepared herself for what was behind before opening it. Immediately she came face to face with her brother. His eyes glowing brightly, the energy the usually lazy floats about them was now zipping around wildly. He was taller than usual too, he had a habit of floating when he was upset.

They stayed like that for a moment. Eyes locked, inches from each other. Slowly Solstice untensed, confused, wondering why he wasn't saying anything. He clearly had something on his mind. Just as she was about to trying breaking the silence herself he erupted.

"What. Did. You. DO?!" A pulse of energy pushed out of him, rattling the door and furniture. That's when it occurred to her that he had been waiting to make sure Sans was gone before he blew up.

"I gave him my number." She said forcefully, stepping around him. Her disguise dropped for the second time that day and she was floating an inch or two above the carpet to match him. "I made friends!" At least she was trying to.

"Solstice, you know! YOU KNOW WHY WE CAN'T DO THAT!"

"I don't care anymore, Nox! It's been two years! We've lived here for two years and I'm done hiding. We're safer here-"

" _Safer_! But we're not safe! What if they find out what we are?"

"What if?! Huh, Nox?! What if?! What do you think they'll do? No one on Earth has any idea what's going on out there!" Solstice jabbed violently upwards beyond the sky and towards the massive expanse of space and further. "No one on this whole planet could do anything if they wanted to!"

Again he flared, growing brighter for a moment and tiny energy bubbles whizzed around. "We don't know that, Sol, the-"

"There are no poachers on earth! Nox! That's why they put us here!"

"THER-" Nox forced himself to the ground a took a deep breath. He didn't like yelling. He didn't like being angrily. It just came so easily to him. "There have been no incidents on Earth. Yet."

Frustration and anger welled up inside of her, threatening to burst. He was right and she couldn’t deny him that. They'd been told that there was no guarantee when it came to Poachers. The people helping them were fairly upfront about admitting that they were really just following breadcrumbs looking for the various pockets this dangerous group existed in. Earth was considered safe because it existed far enough away from any world plagued with poacher and there were no beings on Earth that would be worth their while anyway.

With a cry of frustration and a flurry of energy Solstice shot into her room, the door slamming shut behind her.

There was a beat of silence before Nox growled, a low sound that exploded into a forceful yell, he whirled around, swiping at the air and the vase sitting on a small end table flew across the room and shattered against the wall.

  
-

  
Sans turned to follow Papyrus to the elevator. He could easily take one of his famous shortcuts but he wanted to walk with his brother for a while. Besides. Papyrus would probably get upset if he suddenly disappeared and left him waiting in the elevator. He shuffled lazily down the hall, looking over the contact Solstice added to his phone.

She'd entered her name as 'Sunny' in his phone. He chuckled. She really was cute. Papyrus and Toriel were pretty into the idea of a new friend. They didn't actually know anyone from the surface besides Frisk and the kid may as well be a monster themselves. Tori figured having someone native to the place in their circle would make the transition a little easier which Sans had to admit sounded like a good idea in theory. Papyrus was just ecstatic to make a new friend. Her being human was just an added bonus for him.

Truthfully Sans didn't think she had any intention of having dinner with them, though he would like if she did. She seemed genuine enough and she liked his puns, which was always and extra point or two in his book, but she was very withdrawn and it seemed like the idea of hanging with them scared her. He wasn't sure if it was because they were monsters or if maybe her brother had something to do with it. Sans hadn't even met the guy and he already getting some pretty bad vibes from him. The way Solstice had come flying out of the apartment with her brother moving restlessly behind the door. She'd said he wasn't dangerous and he'd been willing to believe her, but now he wasn't so sure.

She seemed kind of afraid of her brother, the way she'd told them he wasn't very social. Not at all in the way Alphys wasn't very comfortable with most social interactions. They way she'd said it sounded like someone who was only give partial information. _Lying by omission,_ he thought. _  
_

He'd gone back for her number with the hope that maybe it would give her a push or some kind of incentive to keep her promise. For Pap and Tori's sake. Even the kid. Anyone who would stand up for them like that was someone he wouldn't mind having in their lives. He didn't actually expect to hear from her. At least this way if she did find she wanted to contact them, if she needed to, she could.

"HURRY UP, LAZY BONES!" Papyrus called from the elevator. "THERE IS NOT TIME TO WASTE! WE MUST RETURN TO OUR FRIENDS LEST THEY BEGIN TO WORRY!"

"i'm comin' bro." He was right though. Toriel sure could worry. If it took them too long to get back she would start calling them to make sure they were okay and once she started she wouldn't stop until they got back.

Sans was about to step into the elevator when they both felt it. A pulse of thick, hot, energy that rattled their bones as it passed.

The brothers exchanged a look and Sans's leaned back to look down that hallways. "you felt that too, right bro?"

"YES. ALTHOUGH I AM NOT ENTIRE SURE WHAT 'THAT' WAS..."

"yeah... me neither..." It didn't feel like magic, so he dismissed the thought of a monster in trouble somewhere.

The stayed there for a moment, peering down the hall, waiting to see if it would happen again. Maybe they could figure out where it came from.

When it didn't Sans shrugged. "eh. It was probably nuthin'." Though Papyrus didn't seem convinced.


	5. I hope not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sibling talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No monsters this time and it's short. Sorry. Just some solo character time for the sibs

Solstice wasn't sure how long she lay in her bed, staring at the wall. Nox was right and knew it. She could insist they were safe. Tell him over and over that it was long past time to start being a part of the world they'd been dropped in, but the truth was that there was no way to be sure. Earth was a disconnected world, which meant they had no idea of what exists beyond them. That didn't mean that others weren't aware of Earth. 

No evidence of an incident didn't mean nothing had happened. 

She'd wanted it so badly. To finally start living in the world. To make friends and a reason to leave the apartment besides an unbearable restlessness brought on by nightmares. 

A quiet knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts. It slowly swung open and the smell of food filled her room. "Sol?" Her brother called softly. He lingered there in the doorway until the blanket shifted and she slowly sat up. 

Nox was holding a plate of chicken alfredo. Her favorite. He usually made it after a fight like that one. A peace offering. She took the plate from him as he sat down on the bed and began poking at the food with her fork. 

"I'm sorry." He breathed. 

"I just don't want to be alone anymore..." She muttered. 

"I know." Nox heaved a heavy sigh. "I don't like being alone like this either. I just... I don't want you to get hurt again." 

"I don't think they would do that." Flashes of that horrible place, dirty and reeking of blood and remains, came back to her. No, she didn't think just anyone was capable of the atrocities the Poachers committed, and those kind monsters certainly weren't. 

Nox gave a hollow laugh. Because they don't know any better, yet. he thought. But he kept that to himself. They'd talked about how he needed to work on that. Being so ready to believe the worst in everyone, and he didn't want to upset her again. "We have to be careful." He said instead. 

"I know." She sighed. "I sorry." 

He glanced at her, watching her for a moment before putting an arm around her shoulder. "You didn't do anything wrong." He understood how she felt and he couldn't blame her. He felt it too. Two years was a long time. Much longer than either of them had expected or planned for. It was only a matter of time before one of them couldn't stand it anymore. He'd picked up so many hobbies, to keep himself busy, so he wouldn't think about it so much. 

Solstice hadn't been so lucky. She'd always been more social. Even on their homeworld. Then again, Nox had been more social back then too. Before she'd been taken he could have never considered isolating themselves. He would have been glad to see her excited, meeting new people. He may have even met them at the door, stones glowing and energy whirling for the world to see, and even thanked them for looking out for her. 

He couldn't afford to be that open anymore. Not if he was going to keep them safe. 

She's picked up hobbies of course. Solstice always had an affinity for building and learning how things works. What made them run. Taking things apart and putting them back together. She'd taken up sculpting in the earlier months of their relocation. Not with clay but with things she found around the city. She also enjoyed carving plaster figures. Now though, her unfinished project sat at the bottom of her closet. Sculptures she never finished, bits and pieces of things she'd found but had never figured out a use for, and half carved plaster blocks, and things partially taken apart and never quite fixed, all pushed to the back where she couldn't step on them when digging around for clothes. 

"Is it going to be like this forever?" She asked softly. 

Nox was silent for a moment. Torn between false hope and none at all. "… I hope not." He finally muttered back, giving her arm a comforting rub. "I really hope not."


	6. Bad idea?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sibling time and mystery text!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is really short
> 
> I'll probably post another one soon to make up for it?

 

"Oh, C'mon!"  Nox's outrage filled the sizable apartment as he finished in 2nd yet again. He and  Solstice where on the couch playing a very heated game of Mario Kart and he was regretting his decision to let her pick the game. In truth he probably wouldn't be doing too hot regardless of the game they played since she spent more time playing them then he did, but this one in particular she'd been logging a lot of online hours on recently while he was tragically out of practice. 

Solstice laughed and bumped him with her shoulder. This was her 5th victory and she kind of felt bad but he was the one who kept insisting on rematches. So really at this point it was his fault wasn't it? 

"One more, let's go." He said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. 

Solstice smirked and rolled her eyes. "Alright." She said, no doubt in her mind that she was going to win, again. If he was going to be so determined and she had no problem taking first until his frustration got the better of him. Besides, She knew she'd get hers later, next time he'd pick the game and it would be Tekken or Smash or, god forbid, Budokai. Then she'd be the one frustrated and yelling. Knowing that, she was going to take all her victories while she could. 

Minutes later she was silently gloating with a smug grin on her face with Nox slumped back into the couch finally accepting defeat. "I'm making lunch." He said, dropping the remote on the couch as he stood. "Whadda'ya want?" 

"Whatever you make!" She said cheerfully, watching him retreat into the kitchen. 

Nox rolled his eyes and grunted. "Helpful." Whatever. He'd figure it out. 

Solstice powered down the Wii U and sat back to watch TV. It was already on the Food Network and she couldn't be bothered to change it so resigned herself to her fate of Cutthroat Kitchen. She plucked her phone from the table and settled back against the arm rest to work at one of the puzzle games she'd downloaded a while ago, but she paused on the home screen. 1 unread message. That was weird. They only reason they even had phones was so they could contact each other or their caseworker if they needed to and neither actually texted her. Nox preferring just to call and Serriph would usually just show up at their door. 

It was from a number that wasn't save to her phone and her finger hovered over it and she tried to figure out who it could possibly be from... SANS! She sat up a little straighter. He'd sent her a text after she gave him her number. She'd been so riled by the fight with her brother that she'd forgotten all about it. 

She stared at it for a long time, fighting the impulse to look at it. She knew she shouldn't. That she should just delete it and move on. It had been a bad idea to give away her number in the first place. While she still didn't believe Sans or any of his friends would hurt her or her brother she still could have put them in danger without meaning to. Now that the information was out there who knows where it could go. She didn't k now them and she had no reason to trust Sans or his brother, no matter how nice they seemed. She'd just gotten... a little too excited and didn't think, but now that she had the chance to do  that it all seemed like terrible idea. 

"What's up?" Nox asked setting a plate down in front of her. "Something happen?"  
  
"No." She said, quietly and looked at her lunch. Two halves of an English muffin topped with avocado and tomatoes with cheese melted all over it. Taking up the rest of the plate was a pile of potato chips. 

Nox raised a brow, unconvinced but let it go when she took a bit of her lunch and groaned. " This is so good." 

"Glad you think so." He muttered, dropping down next to her. "'cause it's all we've got." 

She hummed in response and nodded. They'd go shopping after lunch then. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He made this -> http://whatscookingamerica.net/Sandwich/AvocadoTomatoMelt.htm


	7. Knock knock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Desicions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stuff is happening! Kind of!

 

With every day that passed Solstice spent at least a few minutes staring down at that text. She should have deleted it. It shouldn't still be there. She should just have gotten rid of it. That way it would be gone and she wouldn't have anything to obsess over.    


Days turned to weeks and she still hadn't come any closer to a decision about the fate of the text. What does she even write back at this point? Does she play along with the joke or just acknowledge that she got it? The answer, she knew, was neither. Delete it. But she couldn't bring herself to do that. The more time passed the more she found herself thinking about Toriel and Frisk but mostly the brothers. She'd barely spent any time with them, not even a whole hour, and that was the problem. She wanted to. Very badly. 

It had been so long now that she wandered if the invitation was still good. Or if they even remembered her. If she did reply... Would he even text back? The thought saddened her a bit. Had she spoiled her one chance to make friends in two years already?

Nox had noticed too. She would sometimes just sit and stare at her phone, not doing anything. Just staring at it. When she looking up from the screen he would be giving her a questioning look and she would insist everything was normal. He didn't believe her but he didn't ask any further and she appreciated that. It saved them both another fight. 

One night she was sitting on the couch, some stand-up comedian playing on the TV, and once again staring down at her phone. Staring at those two simple words that had become a greater source of stress in her life then she would like to admit. 

-knock knock

It was just the set up for another one of his dumb jokes, but for her it was more than that. It was an opportunity to actually start living on the world they'd been dropped on. She'd heard the phrase: when opportunity knocks, answer it. Though she wasn't convinced Opportunity would hang around while she decided weather she was going to answer the door or lock it forever. 

She stared at her phone for a moment longer before taking a deep breath and making her choice. 

-Who's there?

She held her breath and waited. One beat. Two... nothing. She sigh. What had she expected. Really, who waits around for a stranger to text back for weeks?

Disappointed but not surprised, she dropped her phone on the table and pulled her blanket further up around her. 

Netflix had long since cycled through 2 movie and Solstice was starting to doze when her phone went off. Without thinking she reached for it and tried to recover some of her cognitive functions as the screen came to life. 

-lost

She blinked. It was the same number as before. Solstice shot upright. He'd actually texted her back! She'd ignored him for weeks and, as far as he knew, broken her promise and he still texted her back! There was still a chance. 

-Lost who?

-lost you    
-at least  i thought  i did

She grinned at that. He didn't seem mad at her. At least she hoped not. 

-Sorry.

-it's fine kiddo  
-what took  ya so long    


-I got busy

Lie. She didn't do anything all day. It's not like she had a job or anywhere to go. But 'I was seriously contemplating your text for weeks and couldn't decide if I was even going to answer it at all' didn't seem the best way to go. 

-fair enough toris been asking about you

She felt a weight settle in her gut. She hoped she hadn't made that sweet woman feel like she'd rejected them. Even though... she supposed she kind of had... 

-Sorry...    
-Do you think my raincheck is still good?    


-of course kid     
-we'll probably get together again soon if you wanna pay up

Solstice stared at his response for a moment. She did. She really did want to. The idea of being surrounded by other beings just sounded so... wonderful. Slowly she glanced towards Nox's door. The light was on in his room and who knows what he was doing. She watched his door for a minute or two, as if she expected that he might come out and hear her conversation that was taking place via text. 

She rolled her eyes at her own paranoia. Because that was something he could do.    


-Yes please! I would loved to!

Nox would be mad at her for doing something like this behind his back. She was putting them in danger, she knew it. Just like she knew she was being selfish. But enough was enough, right? She couldn't live like this, cooped up in this apartment forever. No matter how nice it is. 

-sweet  
- i'll get back to you with the when and the where

-Thank you.    


-no prob  i'll catch up with you later kid  
-gotta put my brother to bed

She tilted her head at that. Put him to bed? Were they not both adults? 

-Good night, Sans. 

-night   



	8. hey.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for filler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rather insubstantial... I realized I hadn't updated for a while so... here? Sorry. Next one is soon and a real chapter I promise.

 

The next day Solstice woke up to an unread message on her phone. She tapped the screen, bringing it to life and her confusing fled. It was Sans! 

- mornin sunshine

Solstice smiled at and bounced in her bed a little. She hadn't actually expected him to keep talking to her, figuring she wouldn't hear back from him until the dinner.

-Hi! 

-hey look at you   
-it took less than a month this time

-Sorry.

He'd said it was fine before, but she felt terrible. The fact that he was being so nice about it only made her feel worse. He had no reason to talk to her after she'd blown them off for a month.

-hey  its fine

-I'm so-   
She erased the message. No more apologizing. 

-Are you sure everyone is okay with me being there?

The others may not be as flippant about it as Sans. 

-oh yeah toris pretty understanding not much can get her goat  
-pap was real happy to hear from you last night   
-he thought he'd scared you off

-Why would he think that?

-he heard humans think skeletons are spooky   
-don't worry about it he can be kind of a drama bone 

Solstice smiled. She still felt bad for upsetting Papyrus. Or... rather making him upset himself, but it didn't sound very serious so it seemed like she didn't have anything to worry about. 

The smell of food is what eventually pulled her away from her phone and out of her room. She found Nox in the kitchen pouring sugar into a cup of coffee, he poured in a generous helping of almond milk and handed her the cup on her way to the table. She took a sip from her cup and gave a pleased hum. For his own cup he dropped in a dollop of soy milk and sprinkled in some cinnamon.

A comfortable silence filled the kitchen, broken only by the soft noises of Nox preparing breakfast. Before long a ham and cheese omelet with red and green peppers and a side of toast is dropped down in front of her. 

They ate and they talked, about anything, their plans for the day which were never spectacular. New games they wanted to try out, Steam and the PSN were pretty much their best friend, Movies, and whatever bizarre social issue humans were struggling with today. 

It was something she had feared would become harder the longer they hid on this world. Since they spent all their time together hiding away in this apartment she was afraid that they would run out of things to talk about and... get bored with each other. They'd always been so close she hated the idea of anything dulling their relationship. But after two years they still conversed just as easily as ever and she'd stopped worrying about drifting apart from her brother. Sure, they fought more now then they did before. Mostly because of her insistence that if they were going to live on this world they should  _ live _ on this world. At least be part of it. Despite those fights they were still a close as ever. 

Nox was in the middle of telling her that one of the ladies on the floor under them had seen him painting in the park, something he did from time to time when the apartment become too oppressive for even him, and wanted him to do a watercolor portrait of her dog when Solstice's phone went off for the third time. She was still talking to Sans. 

"You're popular today." He noted, taking another bite of his toast. His tone wasn't questioning, or suspicious. Though Solstice noted he had every right to be. It was just unusual for either of them to receive many messages since they didn't go out of their way to talk to anyone.

"Oh! Yeah... It's Vi." She said. Vi was another immigrant they knew. She didn't live near them but they'd met once or twice when they would have to go meet their caseworker. "She's been asking about cakes." Vi shared her love of baking but was having a harder time with human food and appliances then the they were.

Nox gave a sound between a hum and grunt. He'd bought her story. She hated lying to him but she didn't want to have more fights than necessary. After all there was already one brewing in the horizon regarding the dinner. 

"You don't want to paint that woman's dog." Solstice prompted, changing the subject so he wouldn't press forward. 

"No! No I don't!" Nox said, dropping his fork with a  clang. "But before I could says that, I had 8 pictures of the mutt that she just... keeps in her purse! ...and she wants to give me 300 bucks to do it." He sighed and slumped back into his chair

Solstice laughed. That was way more than he could have charged if he were ever interested in painting someone's dog. Somethings Nox would take commissions or sell a piece for a bit of extra cash. Solstice would too back when she still had any interest in her projects. She kept thinking she would go back to them one day but just couldn't work up the motivation. 

"You're going to paint her dog." Solstice grinned. 

"I'm going to paint her dog." He muttered. 

Solstice couldn't stop herself, giggled erupted and covered her mouth with her hands. He as going to hate that. The woman below them wasn't horrible or anything. She was actually very nice. One of those loud, friendly, over sharing older woman. Whenever they saw her outside of the complex she carried with her one of those little purse dogs. A little chihuahua that just sat there wide eyed and shaking like it had seen an unspeakable horror. Nox didn't like her very much. She was nosy. Wanted to know everyone's story and far too willing to share too much of her own. Solstice just thought she could be a bit... much sometimes. 

After breakfast Solstice found herself listening to some sitcom or another as she continued her conversation with Sans. She found out that he was babysitting Frisk today. The kid didn't start school for another week and Toriel was going to starting as a teacher there so she had meetings or something to go to. 

She'd briefly tried to pump him for information on the people she'd be meeting more formally at the dinner, whenever that was, but he wasn't willing to give up too much. He seemed to think it would be more 'fun' for her to find out on her own. She did not agree. Her complete lack of social interaction over the past few years made her a anxious about being the odd one out in a group of people who were already close friends. She did learn that his brother was super jazzed on all things human, Frisk was the very reason the monsters had been able to come to the surface, Toriel was effectively Frisk's mother since no one had come to properly claim them. She's also learned that there were two others she hadn't met that usually attended these dinners and Sans wouldn't even tell her their names. Above all she was figuring out that at least a small part of Sans delighted in her frustration.

Her day passed much like that. She briefly left the apartment to buy a coat since the cold weather was starting to move in and she was not a fan, spent a few hours playing  some rounds online, and baked a dozen cupcakes out of sheer boredom. The whole time she found herself texting Sans. At some point it dissolved into the exchange of puns and knock knock jokes but that was the best part. For the first time in a long time she had someone to talk to and she'd couldn't remember that last time she'd been this excited.   



	9. That's up to you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stress baking and a difference of opinion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Been a while! Whoop.

Over the next few days she's kept a pretty consistent text train going with Sans. Somewhere along the way the others had learned that he was talking to her and would use him to occasionally relay messages. Papyrus had apologized for  'spooking' her and she'd tried to assure him that it was fine but had the sneaking suspicion that Sans was not relaying her messages in turn. Frisk would say 'hi' from time to time. The kid had also taken up the habit of asking when she was coming to dinner every time Sans was near him.  

She'd been in the middle of making breakfast when she got one such message.

-the kid wants to know when you're coming to dinner 

She sighed and rolled her eyes, putting down her mixing bowl.  

-That's up to you, isn't it? 

He'd said he would let her know when their next 'family dinner' was. Sans called it that, though it didn't seem like any of them were actually related besides him and Papurys. This of course made her even more nervous. These monster were so close that they considered themselves family and here she was. Some random 'human' who'd told a woman to shut up in a bookstore carrying all of her secrets on her back. What If they didn't like her, what if she just didn't fit in? What if they could tell she was hiding something. This was a bad idea. Maybe she should back out. Nox is right.

-oh  
-we're all getting together tonight if you can swing it 

-SANS! 

She knew she shouldn't have been surprised. Toriel seemed to be using Sans to ask her about her preference in foods a lot the past day or two, which should have been a sign. But through these questions she had learned that Sans was not very reliable when it came to delivering information in a timely manner, or at all.  

-wat? 

-You couldn't have said something sooner? 

-sorry. 

 _He is not._  

-guess i forgot to mention it.  

She's hoped to have more time to plead her case to Nox before hand. A day... maybe two... a week. Just to ease him into the idea. Or at least get all the fighting out of the way before hand so she wouldn't have to meet them all upset.  

-you comin? 

No. No she shouldn't go. Nox is right. They'll want to know all kinds of things about her she can't answer and she doesn't want to fight with her brother anymore. The easiest thing to do would just be to forget about  it. Tell him she can't make it and never speak of it again.  

-I'll try. 

-sweet  
-i'll be there around 6 

Wait what? 

-Here? 

-yeah 

-Why? 

 -to pick you up  
-duh  
-unless you already know where tori lives 

She squinted at her phone. He knew damn well she didn’t.  

-You could just tell me. 

The absolute last thing she wanted was Sans standing outside while she and Nox had it out in the living room. Or worse. For Nox to answer the door when he arrives.  

-nah 

She groaned at the ceiling. Of course not. Why would he do that for her when he could do, literally the exact opposite of what she wanted. She couldn't tell him 'Please don't, I don't want my brother to see you." He already didn't like Nox. She could tell by the way he would occasionally ask a weirdly loaded question about him. He'd asked more than once how well they got along and never seemed fully convinced no matter what she said. On occasion when she'd told him she was just going to stay in the apartment or mentioned that she wanted to do something but hadn't or wasn't going to, without fail Sans' next question would be 'how's your brother doing?' Which did strike her as weird at first since she didn't talk about her brother a lot with him. The strangest one had been after he'd asked if she always made breakfast, when he'd caught her while cooking one day, and she told him that she didn't and Nox actually did most of the cooking. Sans had answered 'good.' She still wasn't entirely sure what was so 'good' about it but decided not to ask.  

-i'll just come get you  
-don't want you walkin around alone at night 

She stared hard down at her phone trying to figure out if he was being thoughtful or doing this on purpose knowing she doesn't want him to come to her door.  

-you're welcome 

He's doing it on purpose.  

-Thank you.  

-see you then, sunshine ;) 

If she wasn't so frustrated she would have blushed.  

Now she had to figure out how to make this a painless as possible. Which she started by adding vanilla to the pancake batter and pulling out the strawberries and powdered sugar. Maybe if she started with a really good breakfast she could lessen the blow a little. 

\--  
Some time after breakfast Solstice found herself restless and anxious so she once again retreated to the kitchen. Baking was always something she did to calm her nerves. It gave her something to focus on besides her whirling thoughts.  

In this case it was probably the last things she should be doing. She _should_ be telling Nox what she was up to. Or telling Sans she wasn't going to make it after all... The look on their faces when she'd told them that the first time flashed through her head and she dismissed that idea. They seemed really excited about having her there even though they'd just met. Maybe even because of it. Sans had mentions a few times how his brother and Frisk loved making new friends. That may have just be true of all of them. They were probably trying really hard to fit in on the surface. She'd seen how some humans were capable of treating them. It couldn't be easy for them and they must have felt like making friends on the surface would help them navigate the treacherous terrain of human society. 

She couldn't blame them for feeling that way. It's exactly what she wanted to do. Her experience with monsters was limited due to her own lack of interaction with anyone really, but she'd watched them the past two month just like she's been watching humans for the past two years and most of them were kind and eager to be a part of the surface. She's seen a few grow cautious and withdrawn over those two months, most likely because of the way they'd been treated. Though most negative interactions between the monsters and humans were instigated by the latter.  

Though, as she dug the hand mixer out of the bottom cupboards, she wondered how much the help really meant if 'human' they were hoping to befriend wasn't human at all. She couldn't help them fit in, and she didn't have a dog in their fight, being neither human or monster. Having her on their side didn't give them an advantage of any sort. In fact if anyone actually found out about them she was sure they would be more afraid of her then the monsters. At least the monsters were a part of history. They were native to the world. But her and her brother, they were completely alien. Being friends with her might hurt their chances fitting in on the surface more anything. 

"I think it's good." Nox pulled her out of her dangerously spiraling thoughts.  

"Oh. Right." Quickly Solstice pulled the mixer away from her bowl of cream cheese and butter. 

"What's all this?" He asked as she added powdered sugar and cinnamon and continued mixing.  

"I'm making a pie." She answered.  

"I see that." Nox said, glancing at the crust she'd set aside. "What for?"  

Not that she needed a reason, she baked just for fun all the time. But Nox was also aware of her tendency toward stress baking.  

"Well..." She started, putting the bowl down and refocusing her energy on the bananas she set out. Cutting then into neat little disks. "You... remember the monsters I met a few weeks ago." This is not the conversation she wanted to be having. He was going to get mad. And they were going to fight.  

Nox stopped his investigation of the pie filling and narrowed his eyes. "Yes..." He sounded suspicious. He should.  

"I'm... having dinner with them."  

"Sol!" 

"I know!" She looked up from her banana's and gave him a pleading look. "I know! I just- can you just let me have this? Please? Just one time!" 

"Solstice we talked about this!" His energies flared and his feet left the linoleum.  

"I know we did!" She was struggling to stay on the ground herself. "But I'm so sick of this! This apartment and- and the hiding!" 

"You don't know them! Th-" 

"But I could! That's the point, Nox! They're nice!" 

"We-" Nox sighed, forcing himself to the ground. "You can't just trust everyone because they're nice to you. Nice, Soly, Is going to get you killed."   

Solstice opened her mouth to retaliate but felt what little fight she had suddenly leave her. She didn't want to do this. It wasn't worth it. Her shoulders dropped and her jaw clenched. After a moment of tense silence between them she simply stepped around him and stormed off to her room. The only sound the followed was the slam of her door. 

Nox took another deep breath and closed his eyes. She was making this far more difficult than it needed to be. He understood her desperation. He did. At times he even felt it. Until it all came rushing back to him. Seeing her panicked and delirious with pain, her chest cut open, as they hauled her from that den. He wasn't going to risk allowing it to happen again. But at the same time...  

Nox turned his gaze to the empty pie crust, banana's, and freshly whipped filling and sighed.  

\--  
Hours passed and Solstice didn't once leave her room. It wasn't surprising. This was how she had come to handle their fights. She hated them and so did Nox. Though Nox burned much hotter then she did and would carry on forever if he was allowed to. So when it looked like she had reached a dead end she would simply hide away in her room until he calmed down since leaving the apartment would only make him worry which resulted in more fighting when she returned 

"It's 5:30" He said from her doorway 

Solstice peaked over her covers and found him leaning against the door frame.  

"So?"  

"So are you going to your dinner or what?" 

Slowly she sat up but remained quiet for a moment. "Thought you didn't want me to go." 

"I don't." He sighed.  

"… I don't understand."  

Again he signed and sat on the edge of her bed. "Just... Be careful. Okay?" She held his pleading gaze, still confused. Did he still think the monsters would hurt her? 

"If they start asking questions just.. Be careful how you answer." He didn't expect that they would interrogate her by any means. But she would be the outsider at a social gathering. They were going to ask questions. They would want to know more about her and there was so much they just couldn't know. "Not just for us. For all the others." 

"I'm not going to sell us out, Nox." She snapped, annoyed that he seemed to have such little faith in her. 

He gave a hollow laugh. "I know. I just-" 

He stopped when a sound like something plastic tapping hard against the door rang through the apartment. Nox went tense and his sisters hands shot to her mouth. In the excitement she'd forgotten all about Sans.  

"It's Sans." She whispered.  

"Here?!" His energies flared as he rounded on her.  

She simply answered with a small nod. "He came to pick me up."  

Nox's shoulders dropped a bit, he supposed he had to appreciate that they weren't going to make his sister travel alone in the dark. Though he was no happier about having one of them at his door. He growled as he stood to answer the door, pulling together he own disguise as he went.  

"Please be nice!" She called after him.  

"Just get ready, please!" He snapped back before muttering more to himself. "Before I change my mind." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this far despite how very slow this is moving~


	10. Don't forget the pie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans finally meets the brother.

Sans waited patiently outside the door. A moment passed and no one answered. He began to wonder if he had the wrong door and was about to send Solstice a text when the door finally opened just enough to reveal the person on the other side who Sans could only assume was Nox. He looked remarkably like Solstice. Same tanned skin, dark hair and bright eyes he was maybe just a bit taller than her and his face was much harder. He stood there in nothing but a loose fitting pair of jeans and seemed less than enthusiastic about the skeletons presence. Though Sans had to give him some credit, he didn't even blink at seeing the skeleton standing outside his door.  

"hey." Sans offered when the man did nothing but glare down at him.  

"Hey." The way he said it was almost sarcastic.  

"Solstice here?" The skeleton prompted after a short silence.  

"She's getting ready."  

Beyond the superficial resemblance Sans wondered if the pair shared any traits at all. When talking to her Solstice didn't exactly inspire much confidence in the skeleton about how... great her brother was. She insisted that he was kind, caring and protective though it seemed more like he was controlling and possessive. Now faced with the man Sans felt validated in his assumptions. Where Solstice seemed kind though maybe a little shy her brother seemed far less than friendly and certainly not the kind caring person she insisted he was.  

If he recalled, she had once described him as 'intense', the only thing she'd shared so far that he agreed with. Nox's face was set in a hard stare as he watched the skeleton. Sans remembered Solstice have bright eyes too but he hadn't exactly been paying close attention to them during their brief face to face. Now, watching Nox watch him, he wondered if the color of her eyes were as hard to pinpoint as her brothers. They weren't blue or green or brown like most of the humans he'd seen. In fact. If he didn't know any better he'd say the color was changing as they stood there. Once he'd decide that they must be a striking ice blue he'd focus again and discover that they were actually be a bright molten gold and when he wasn't focusing closely on them at all they almost seemed to go white.  

When the intense silence had stretched on far enough he raised a brow and spoke again. "you're just gunna make me stand out here until she's done, huh?" He hadn't planned on being invited in but now he'd been standing there long enough that it felt a bit awkward to still be in the hallway.  

He was answered with a mean half smile and a quirk of the brow that seemed to roughly translate to 'You guessed it.' After another few seconds of silence Nox broke the pattern by speaking first. "So they sent you to pick up my sister?" His tone was suspicious. Like he thought Sans might be up to something. 

"no one sent me, pal." He answered with a shrug. Despite making an effort not to he couldn't help returning some of the hostility in his tone. "I just didn't want Soly to get bonely out there on her own."  

The reaction he got was not the one he's hoped for but just as good as far as the monster was concerned. Nox blinked as he processed the pun and leaned back from the threshold. The skeleton could not be more delighted as a hostile disinterest briefly gave way to flash of realization and was all together taken over by pure annoyance and he called back into the apartment. "SOL! Hurry up!"  

Sans snickered. So this one wasn't a fan of puns. Good to know.  

Solstice appeared next to Nox, dressed and ready to go. Sans grin widened when he saw her practically bouncing with excitement. She certainly was a welcome and refreshing contrast to her brother. She pushed the door open wider to wave at him around her brother. "Hi, Sans!"  

"hey, sunshine."  

As they both looked at him, one hard and unforgiving the other smiling and joyful, he decided two things. The two where absolutely nothing alike but their eyes were exactly the same.  

"Don't forget the pie." Nox muttered to her before she could say anything more. 

"I never finished my-" 

"Just go get it, please."  

Solstice looked confused but disappeared from the doorway while Sans had to remind himself that he didn't know these two yet so he shouldn't judge, but he still didn't appreciate the tone he was taking with her. 

In the kitchen Solstice stood in front of the counter top and clapped her hands against her thighs in annoyance. What was he talking about? He'd chased her from the kitchen before she'd gotten and chance to finish her pie. She sincerely hoped he hadn't just said that to make her go away while he threatened Sans or something. Giving him the benefit of the doubt she pulled open the fridge and couldn't stop the smile from growing on her face. Sitting on the middle shelf was a finished and decorated Dulce de Leche Banana Cream Pie.  

She pulled a snap on top out from under the sink that fit on the pie tin she'd used and ran back over to the door. She was relieved to find that neither of the males seemed to be bristling or any more upset then she'd left them. "Got it!" She chirped.  

"Good. Now go." Nox sighed, finally swinging the door open all the way.  

"Alright! We're going!" She said, as she brushed past him, but stopped just short of the threshold. "Thank you."  

"Mhmmm." He hummed, locking eyes with the carpet. "Just remember what we talked about."  

She nodded. "I'll be careful." 

- 

"he always so friendly?" Sans asked as they walked away from the door.  

"No. Well... I mean, that's just kind of how he is."  He looked at her with a raised brow and she quick back peddled. She didn't want him to think Nox was... well. Like _that._ "He's always been kind of gruff. But he's a good person." 

Sans didn't looked convinced.  

"He's just... He's not good with people."  

"you don't say." 

It turned out Toriel didn't live terribly far. It was about a 15 minute walk to her house into the residentials a few blocks down from the shopping center where they'd first met. The whole trek was filled with conversation and puns and Solstice already felt like she'd made the right call. He'd asked about the pie and she found herself momentarily rambling about how much she loved baking and the calming effect it always seemed to have on her when she did it. Though when she looked up and found him watching her she quieted and stared down at her pie. Face growing warm.  

Sans only snickered and gave her a slight nudge with his elbow. "you're cute, kid." 

Her face went fully red and she couldn't help smiling.  

- 

"guess who finally dropped by." Sans called into the kitchen as they entered a fairly small but very cozy home.  

"Oh! It's so good to see you again, my child!" Toriel cheered, looking towards then after adjusting a few things on the stove. "I am so glad to finally get the chance to thank you properly." 

Oh yeah! It had been so long she'd forgotten why she was invited in the first place. "Oh. Thank you, but I didn't really... do anything." 

Toriel gave her a patient smile and crossed the room towards them. "My child, I know it may seem that way to you," she says, gently taking Solstice's hands in her paws. "But it meant so very much to us."  

"Oh." Solstice couldn't stop the blush from rising. Toriel sounded so sincere and Solstice felt even worse for lying to her. "Well then, I'm glad I was there to do it."  

"here, tori." Sans held up the pie, as some point during the walk he'd asked to see it and just ended up carrying it the rest of the way.  

Toriel grinned. Her teeth were bigger and sharper then Solstice thought they would be. "Oh! How nice!" She plucked it from the skeleton's hands and beamed down at it. "Is this from you?" She asked Solstice, who bit back a snort. Even though Sans has been the one to hand it to her it seemed everyone, even this sweet monster woman, assumed him too lazy to have made anything himself. "You didn't have the bring anything, dear."  

Solstice gave a small nod and when she didn't say anything more Sans took it upon himself. "made it herself, just for us."  

"How very sweet of you!" Toriel smiled. "I will put this in the refrigerator and we will have it later. Dinner is almost done. Why don't you two sit." She added, motioning to the dining room. Solstice could already hear the sounds of conversation drifting their way and she was overcome with her own nervousness all over again.  

She glanced down at Sans who shot her a wink and motioned for her to follow him into the dining room. At the threshold she found herself frozen. The scene before her was more than a little intimidating. Everyone else was already present and accounted for. She knew, kind of, Papyrus and Frisk. They were seated at the table with Frisk in the tall skeletons lap pointing to several sheets of paper strewn across the surface. Whatever they were looking at had Papyrus enthralled. Sans had joined them, looking on curiously with a soft smile. A little ways away from them were two she didn't recognize. A tall muscular woman covered head to toe in blue scales with and long red hair pulled back into a ponytail. She had fin like protrusions on the side of her head, which Solstice assumed were ears, and an eye patch over her right eye. She was lifting a large piece of furniture over her head and looking very proud of herself while the other, a small orange reptile with a crested head and buck teeth, worriedly fussed around her.  

This was a bad idea. Solstice took a small step back and glanced behind her. Was it too late to leave? No one but Sans and Toriel knew she was there yet. She didn't belong here, this was a family dinner and she's not family. She's an intruder present only because she was lying. She had to leave. She had to get out before they saw through her. Before they realized she wasn't anything special or even good- 

"HEY!" Solstice flinched hard. She looked up and found herself making immediate and intense eye contact with the fish woman. Unbidden, her body took another step back and she looked to Sans, the only familiar face, for help but he seemed much too caught up in whatever his brother and Frisk were so interested in.  

The  furniture slid from her grasped and fell with a dull thunk back into place and the woman stalked towards her, shoulders squared in a way she'd only seen from her brother when he felt threatened.  

She stopped in front of Solstice and gave her a hard stare. "So you're the one who stood up for these nerds in the store, huh?" She said, gesturing towards the brothers and Frisk.  

"I... I didn't really-" Solstice wished she could disappear. She wasn't entirely sure what was happening but she couldn't help feeling like she'd done something wrong.  

"You don't look like a whole lot, do you?"  

She took another step back. This was wrong. She shouldn't be here. She should leave.  

Suddenly the woman's face broke out in a large shark-toothed grin and she gave a loud laugh. "Well anyone who would stick up for these losers is okay in my book!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I TAKE A VERY LONG TIME TO UPDATE! SORRY!

**Author's Note:**

> Congrats! You made it to the end of my weird garbage! Hope you like it! I'm super slow on updating! I always have been. It's also been a long time since I actually wrote anything... Just ask Fanfiction.net that hasn't seen me in like... a year and a half. So get ready for that! Just so you're not /too/ disappointed.


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